Hang It Up!

How do you hang up towels, dish rags or pot holders? How about photos on the wall? If you’re like me, it hurts to even think of making holes in that beautiful wood.

Aboard Que Tal, we used a variety of solutions. Lots of screw-in cup hooks, left by the previous owner — plus a few we added in “hidden” spots. Industrial strength Velcro for the laptop and things on the nav station, which was very hard to remove (I was afraid it was going to peel the Formica off the wood under it). For photos, we used tape, which fell off in hot weather, or poster putty which also would slowly soften and release the pictures in hot weather.

Enter Command Strip products. These weren’t available — or at least I wasn’t aware of them — when we moved aboard Que Tal and I never saw them in Mexico. But now that I’ve discovered them, I’ve come to the conclusion that they were just made for boats!

Basically, there are four great things about Command Strip products:

They leave no mark, hole, residue or anything else when you remove them.

Installation is dead simple.

They have a lot of holding power compared to many other options.

There’s one designed for almost every application you can think of.

And they’re not too expensive, either. You can buy them at almost any big box store or hardware.

Another idea is to turn them horizontally and run a bungee cord between two for a paper towel holder (see more on this idea).

Depending on the size — they go from mini to large — hooks will hold up to about 5 pounds.

Command Picture Strips will handle almost everything else. Believe it or not, some can support as much as 20 pounds!

They are great for pictures, in frames or plastic sleeves (we got some of the clear plastic “picture holders” designed to go on a refrigerator with a magnet and used them on the walls so that the photos would be protected). You could use them to mount a spice rack in the galley . . . or attach a divider in a locker.

They remind me of very strong Velcro — and they’re great for keeping electronics in place, too. Laptops, chargers and other things that you want to keep in place (no guarantees in particularly rough seas — all boats differ, so use your own judgment as to what is sufficient).

In the cockpit, we used Velcro to keep the autopilot control in one place, and also on our SSB/ham/stereo speakers (they weren’t built in). It was a real pain to remove the Velcro when it came time . . . these would have held better than the Velcro and been easier to remove — a definite win/win.

One quick note on using the picture strips — the first ones I used, I aligned with the outside edge of a picture frame. As you can see in the picture, it’s definitely visible from the side. Now, the nice thing is that I can easily remove the strip and place it further from the edge . . . but think about this as you’re hanging items!

As I began researching all the Command Strip varieties, one that really appealed to me for the galley are the spring clip ones.

Put them on the wall to hold lists, recipes, meal plans and more. They’d also be handy at the nav station or helm for keeping info that you want instantly at hand. And one would be perfect for a laminated sheet with emergency info and radio frequencies right next to the radio.

There are also cord organizers — great for running wiring anywhere, either through lockers or in an exposed location.

MaryJo — I’ve used them on varnished wood — teak, oak and maple that I know of — and they’ve worked perfectly. I’ve also used them on cheap laminates with no problem. Painted wood, walls and bathroom tile have all been fine. I’mgoing to guess that rough wood would NOT work, however.

My wife hates them, they pulled the paint off the walls in the rest home and hospital rooms she’s stayed in. I put hot pad holders on the wall next to the stove and they got pulled off. There was a hole in those hooks that I ended up putting a screw in.

The difference is that when you try to take the Velcro strips off later, they tend to destroy the surface. The Command Strips are designed so that when you go to remove them, you don’t just peel off, you s-t-r-e-t-c-h the material and it comes off without damaging the surface. Brilliant!! I did not get the concept originally, and peeled some paint off my classroom wall the first time, thinking, “Wait a minute! This wasn’t supposed to ruin my wall!” Then, I actually read the instructions on the package, and have never gone back.

Spread the word! The more popular they are, the more available they become! I stock up for the boat whenever I am back in the US.
My experience with using these in humid conditions has led me to use the “bathroom” version of the strips exclusively on our boat. A couple of art objects crashing to the floor in the night convinced me! These particular Command strips are pale blue with water droplets printed on the pull end.
Thanks for promoting one of my favorite boat items!

I have never seen the clip ones — these would be great and I will look for them. I use the other products both at our townhome on the water and on the boat (also use velcro too).
Thanks for the clip idea!

I love these also. The one thing I have learned is to make sure to clean the area with rubbing alcohol like the directions say. I put up some coat hooks to hang our life jackets from, left out the alcohol step and within a month they had fallen down. I put some cork up on our v-berth walls and used the picture hanging strips to attach it to the fiberglass. Worked wonderfully.

I use them everywhere, from pictures to loaded shower bags! The only problem is items swing when underway. I solved this on smaller items by pushing a small ball of Butyl tape under the corners. It is easily removed and everything stays put.

I know well how hot it gets in Baja — cruised there six years full time (yes, including the summer). Didn’t use these then (weren’t available) but have now in southern FL over the summer. The ones inside were fine — had a couple on windows that dried out and “unstuck.” So it seems to be that temp alone is fine, but right in the window with harsh summer sun (it was holding silver film to the window so lots of extra heat and reflected light) was bad.

any idea how to remove them if the stretch thing come off? We bought our boat last year and there are 4 or5 really old ones. i saw them and thought hey i can stretch these and they’ll pull off..not so much!

I’ve had that happen and I was able to kind of reach under most of them with a pair of tweezers and grab a tiny bit and pull out. On the others, I had to pull hard and it finally stretched out and I could grab it.

Carolyn you are so determined and resourceful, always honing to make things work better. I loved your details on the fridge thermometer. Even tho I am a landlubber I use many of your hints. You are a doll!

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Welcome to The Boat Galley

Hi! I'm Carolyn Shearlock. Here you'll find over 1,000 articles with practical tips and info, all based on my years of full-time cruising -- first on a monohull in Mexico and Central America and now on a catamaran in Florida.

After 1,100 miles in the Bahamas this summer, we're back in the Keys and readying the boat to island-hop down to the Virgin Islands this winter.

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